Just a Touch of Magic
by Dani-Ellie03
Summary: After another squeeze of Emma's hand, Snow let go, patted her knee, and stood. "If anyone can figure out how to communicate across realms, it's you and Elsa." (or, Emma Swan misses her best friend and her family encourages her to do something about it)
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Just a Touch of Magic  
 **Summary:** After another squeeze of Emma's hand, Snow let go, patted her knee, and stood. "If anyone can figure out how to communicate across realms, it's you and Elsa."  
 **Spoilers:** Up through 4x11, "Heroes and Villains."  
 **Rating/Warning:** T, mostly for language and some (perhaps uncharacteristic for me) suggestiveness. Here be Charming Family, Captain Swan, and Frozen Swan goodness.  
 **Disclaimer:** _Once Upon a Time_ and its characters were created by Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and are owned by ABC. I'm just trying to pass the time until hiatus is over.  
 **Author's Note:** I don't think it's a secret that I adored Frozen Swan. Like, we're talking grin-like-an-idiot, squeal-like-a-tween-at-a-Bieber-concert _adored_. Needless to say, I didn't want it to end, so in my own lovely little headcanon, it didn't! Not completely. And now I'm sharing that headcanon with y'all. ;) The title was snagged from a line in The Turtles' "You, Baby" (oldies strike again :)) and there's a little wink and nod below to "Dads and Daughters, Princesses and Kings," because the seeds of this were planted there. As always, though, knowledge of that story is not at all necessary to follow this one. Feedback would make my day! Enjoy. :)

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to come, Emma?" Snow White asked as she hooked baby Neal's diaper bag over her shoulder.

Emma Swan sighed inwardly and tried her hardest not to roll her eyes. Between her mom and her dad, she'd been asked that very same question about a hundred times already. (Well, okay, they'd asked her three times but it might as well have been a hundred.) "I'm sure, Mom. Killian's coming over in a bit."

No one needed to know that she'd arranged for Killian to come over pretty much the exact second she'd overheard her parents discussing their plan to take Neal to the park for a picnic lunch. Henry was already at Regina's for the day so the two of them could work on their search the author of the storybook. With her parents taking the squirt out for a little while, Emma and Killian could take the rare opportunity to have the apartment all to themselves for the afternoon.

When she'd called Killian and explained as much to him, he'd been just as thrilled as she had. In fact, he'd said some things that ... well, thank God her father hadn't been able to hear him.

As it was, David's eyes had darkened a bit just now when she mentioned Killian's name. Clearly, Mr. Overprotective Dad had put two and two together enough to realize that his daughter planned to be alone with a (reforming) pirate.

"We're just going to be watching Netflix, Dad," Emma sighed, unable to control her eye-roll reflex this time. Seriously, she was almost thirty, for crying out loud. She had a kid of her own and everything! She was certainly allowed to spend an afternoon with her pirate if she so chose.

And if she and Killian just so happened to pay more attention to each other than to whatever was playing on Netflix, that was something else that no one needed to know.

To his credit, David did have the decency to shoot her a sheepish smile. "Of course you are," he said, thankfully easing up on the overprotective-dad attitude. He finished tucking the sandwiches in the small cooler he was packing for their picnic and then looked up at Snow, who'd gathered little Neal from the bassinet. "That's the last of it."

"All right, then, we're off," Snow said, smiling at her daughter. "As long as you're sure you don't want to come."

Emma wanted so very badly to go bang her head against the brick wall. "I'm sure. You guys should really get going if you want to get a good picnic spot."

David and Snow shared an amused glance. "Do my ears deceive me," David teased, a smirk tugging at his lips, "or is our daughter trying to kick us out of our own apartment?"

"Your ears do not deceive you," Snow replied with an identical smirk. "You'd think she's got a hot date or something."

Heat instantly rose in Emma's cheeks. Damn it, now she was blushing! "That's it!" she cried as she ushered her parents to the door, much to their amusement. "Out, the three of you!"

Laughingly, Snow and David exited the apartment with the promise of returning in a few hours. Emma closed the door behind them, sighing softly. Parents.

(Of course, despite the teasing and the embarrassment, her parents were absolutely wonderful. Hell, sometimes they were wonderful _because of_ the teasing and the embarrassment. Yeah, feeling like a teenager sneaking around with her boyfriend at her age was kind of annoying but she had to admit that it was also kind of nice to be able to reclaim those little moments they'd missed. Better late than never and all that.)

A glance at her phone proved she had a good thirty or so minutes before Killian was set to arrive. Emma had banked on having a little more time to herself; getting her parents out the door with her baby brother but without her had been a bigger task than she'd anticipated. Still, she should have enough time to try something at least once before Killian came over and distracted her with _other_ activities.

After a moment's hesitation, Emma stepped in front of the full-length mirror in her parents' room. Her dad had actually given her this idea the other night, in between making her a turkey sandwich and getting her to release some pent-up emotion. Before she got her hopes up, though, she wanted to make sure it was even a little bit feasible.

Now, what had Regina told her to do when she was trying to use mirror magic to peek in on Ariel and Eric?

She needed to focus inward, to call to her magic and make it do what she wanted it to do. After taking a deep breath and setting her shoulders, Emma closed her eyes and focused.

The feeling of little butterflies flitting in her stomach whenever she called up her magic was becoming familiar. As they always did, the butterflies generated a warmth that began in her stomach and spread throughout her entire body. The warmth relaxed her, centered her. Within seconds, she felt her head dropping forward and her muscles relaxing.

Her magic coursed through her veins, each heartbeat radiating warmth outward. When the heat was at just the right temperature, Emma opened her eyes.

Ripples like the concentric rings that flowed outward when a rock was tossed into a calm pond appeared in the glass of the mirror. A wave of white light followed the ripples across the glass, swallowing Emma's reflection and that of the room behind her.

A breath caught in Emma's throat. She'd never watched the mirror magic take hold before. It was … kind of badass, if she did say so herself.

When the light cleared, she found herself staring at what looked like a bedchamber in some kind of castle. _What in the fresh hell is this?_ Emma thought, blinking in surprise.

The bed was one of those big four-poster suckers, covered in thick, luxurious linens. The rest of the furniture in the room was deep mahogany with shiny brass hardware and cushions of tufted velvet. The walls were covered with _tapestries_ , for crying out loud. "Holy _shit_ ," Emma murmured.

This was _not_ how it had worked before. She'd seen Ariel and Eric on an island; she hadn't seen an empty room. Had she done it wrong?

Emma's increasingly split focus caused the image of the room to flicker. No, no, she didn't want to lose this. She didn't understand it at all but she definitely did not want to lose it. She took a breath and shored up her concentration to hold it in place.

Once the image regained its stability, Emma allowed herself to examine it further. Now that she thought about it, it seemed as though she were looking at the room from the inside, like from the point of view of a piece of furniture. From the angle and position of her view of the bed, maybe from a vanity.

Oh, whoa, wait a second. Was she actually looking _through_ a mirror in the bedchamber itself?

"Wow," a soft voice breathed from behind her.

Even that quiet a sound shattered Emma's concentration. She gasped, startled, and the bedchamber vanished. It was replaced with the proper reflection of her parents' room, her, and her sheepish mother standing behind her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Snow said, wincing. "We got down to the truck and I realized I'd forgotten your brother's pacifier. When I came in here to get one, I saw you and the mirror and well ..." She waved her hand, indicating that Emma knew the rest of the story.

"It's okay," Emma assured her as she tiredly flopped down on the edge of her parents' bed. Whatever the hell she'd just done had taken a _lot_ out of her. "I don't think what I was trying to do was working anyway."

Snow grabbed the pacifier from her nightstand and sat down next to her daughter. "What _were_ you trying to do?"

Emma fidgeted a little uncomfortably under her mother's loving gaze. It was still so foreign, so _new_ , to have someone look at her like that. "Aren't Dad and Neal waiting downstairs?"

"They can wait a few minutes."

She fidgeted again, not entirely sure why she was so hesitant to tell her mom what she'd wanted to do. Here was her _mom_ , and she wanted nothing more than to know her child, to know what her child had wanted. Here was her _mom_ , taking an interest in her. It was everything Emma had ever wanted, and yet, she hesitated.

What was that saying about old habits and dying hard?

After a beat, Emma sighed and briefly met Snow's eyes. _Now or never, Emma_ , she thought. "I was trying to see if I could see Elsa."

Snow seemed surprised at first but then sudden understanding flooded her features. She smiled kindly at her daughter, unable to resist the urge to grasp Emma's hand. Emma let her take it and, to the surprise of both of them, even squeezed a little herself.

"It's only natural that you miss her, Emma," Snow said gently. "The two of you were practically inseparable when she was here."

They had been inseparable, hadn't they? Part of their closeness had sprung from necessity. Ingrid had been gunning for them both and neither of them had any memory of their pasts with her. It had just made sense for them to figure out the hows and whys together.

However, a large part of their closeness had come from the deep bond formed in that ice cave. The two of them understood each other in ways that very few people ever could. From their upbringings – so similar, Emma with caretakers who never really saw her and Elsa with parents who isolated her – to their powers – gifts that had seemed more like curses – to the heavy responsibility foisted on each of them. It had been such a relief to be able to talk about all of it as if it were normal. They'd each helped the other to feel a little less alone, a little less lonely. They'd helped each other find their centers. They'd each been the other's calm during the storm.

And now … now Elsa was just gone.

"I feel like a little kid whose best friend moved away," Emma softly admitted.

It had been a full week since Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff had stepped through the magical door back to Arendelle. A whole _seven days_. Though Elsa had only been in her life a short time, Emma had grown accustomed to having someone to chat with after turning out the light or before getting up for the day. (Which had earned them their fair share of indulgent shushes from the bedroom below, by the way. And just like teenagers at a sleepover, the shushes hadn't made much of a difference aside from getting them to let out sheepish chuckles before lowering their voices.) She'd grown accustomed to having someone to practice magic with, someone who _understood_. And Emma hadn't seen that someone in a whole freakin' _week_ , and it was basically torture.

"I'm sure you do, sweetheart. That's natural, too." Snow tightened her hand around Emma's. When Emma looked up at her, she saw comfort and wisdom in her mother's eyes. "You didn't want to just see her, though, did you? On some level, you wanted to talk to her, too."

Oh, God, how Emma wished she could talk to her. "I don't even know if they made it home okay," she shrugged. "We just sent them through a door and that was it."

Whoa, wait a second. This sadness, this emptiness, this agony of not knowing… this probably wasn't even a _fraction_ of how her parents had felt when they put her in the wardrobe. After all, they'd had to send their brand-new baby through a portal with nothing but a blanket and hope to protect her. Or hell, even sending her off with Henry while the reversal of Pan's Curse whisked everyone back to the Enchanted Forest!

Holy _shit_.

She looked up at her mother, blinking against sudden tears. Snow must have been able to follow her train of thought just from her statement and the expression on her face because she smiled gently and said, "It's not easy sending someone you love into another world, is it?"

No. No, it certainly wasn't.

Thankfully, Snow didn't dwell on the emotion. "I'm sure they're all right," she continued, choosing instead to try to calm her daughter's raw nerves. "Even if they encountered some difficulty on the journey back, Elsa's powerful enough that she'd be able to handle it. Keep practicing, and I'm sure you'll get the chance to ask her yourself."

"Yeah but it didn't work," Emma said, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "When I did this before with Regina, I saw who I wanted to see. I didn't see a random empty room."

Snow hesitated before replying, as if trying to choose her words carefully. "No, but your intent was a little different this time, even if it was subconsciously. You didn't just want to see Elsa; you wanted to talk to her, too. Maybe you would have been able to talk to her if she'd been in the room."

That was something Emma hadn't considered. "You think that was Elsa's room?"

Snow smiled comfortingly. "If your thoughts were focused on her, it makes more sense that you saw into her bedchamber than it does that you saw into some random bedchamber in a random castle. Maybe you've figured out a way for you two to talk through the mirror."

Like an actual magical Skype? The little girl within Emma was positively giddy at the notion but the cynical adult within her didn't dare get her hopes up too high. "Yeah, maybe," she said softly.

After another squeeze of her hand, Snow let go, patted her knee, and stood. "If anyone can figure out how to communicate across realms, it's you two. Now, you're sure you don't want to come on the picnic?"

That now made the like, hundred and second time Emma had been asked. This time, though, she smiled. "I'm sure. Killian, remember?"

Snow's teasing smile indicated that she'd remembered just fine. "Just thought I'd extend the invitation again. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

And then she was out of the room, leaving a stunned Emma behind her, her cheeks burning. God, parents were so _embarrassing_!

As the embarrassment faded, though, Emma realized that two could play that game. Mary Margaret Blanchard may have been a top-button kind of girl but as Emma had so horrifyingly discovered, Snow White was not opposed to a little, er, afternoon delight. (There was not enough brain bleach in the world for walking in on one's parents, by the way.)

Oh, yes. Emma decided right then and there that she was well within her rights to abide by the Snow White definition of "anything I wouldn't do."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** You guys are still the best readers ever! Thanks for the reviews and follows and favorites! Some Captain Swan fluff and plot stuff here and I'll get the whole crew back together next chapter. :)

* * *

Killian Jones had just barely finished knocking on the apartment door when Emma Swan whipped it open. She was grinning, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Hi, Killian," she said, her tone just this side of breathless.

Without warning, she grasped his hand and dragged him into the apartment. Well, then. He'd known that sending her parents off with the young royal would allow her to lower her inhibitions a touch but he had not at all anticipated this. "If I'd known you were this excited about the Netflix, Swan, I would have–"

"Shh."

He instantly shh-ed.

"You need to see something."

It was then that he recognized that particular spark in his Swan's eyes, a look she sometimes got when she'd been practicing her magic. Sometimes, after a lot of activity in a short amount of time, the rush of the magic coursing through her veins left her overstimulated. _Wired_ , she'd called it.

She'd yet to let go of his hand and was now leading him towards her parents' bedroom. Out of equal parts curiosity and concern, Killian let her take him there without a word of argument or requests for an explanation. She wouldn't give him one anyway, not in this state.

"Sit," Emma instructed when they arrived at the bed.

Though he knew the prince and princess weren't due home for hours, he sent a nervous glance to the outer room of the apartment anyway. "Love, I don't know if this is–"

She huffed and sat down on the edge of the bed, tugging him down with her. His heart sped up and began to throb in his chest. Emma must have been able to read his nervousness from his features because she grinned. "Relax, pirate. I just want to show you something."

Then she faced forward and shut her eyes.

"Forgive me, Swan," Killian said, wincing when he heard the befuddlement in his tone, "but I don't understand."

"You will in a second," she mumbled, already half-under the spell of her own magical concentration.

Without knowing what else to look for, he kept his eyes on her. Her entire body relaxed as she called up her magic, her shoulders slumping and her chin dropping towards her chest. Her brow furrowed slightly but before he had the time to worry, a bright flash of white light in his peripheral vision caught his attention.

As Killian glanced over in the direction of the light, he spotted the glass of the full-length mirror rippling like calm waves. What in the blazes …

Then his reflection vanished along with Emma's and they were replaced with an image of a castle bedchamber.

Though he'd seen her do this before, he was still stunned. He glanced over at her and saw that she'd opened her eyes and was now staring at the mirror to hold the image in place. No, not quite staring; her eyes roamed as if she were examining the image. She seemed simultaneously proud of herself and somewhat disappointed.

Taking care not to startle her, he asked, "Love, whose bedchamber is this?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted, "but my mom thinks it's Elsa's." She squinted, a frown of consternation on her face as she searched the image for clues to the identity of the room's owner. After a moment, she sighed. "I hope she's right."

Whether due to her disappointment or exhaustion or both, it was clear that her magical rush was beginning to dwindle. Killian reached over and tenderly grasped her hand, threading their fingers together. She smiled and ran her thumb over his. "You're attempting to communicate with her, aren't you?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah. I didn't even realize I was at first. I was just trying to see her. You remember how I looked in on Ariel and Eric using mirror magic?"

Oh, how he remembered. "Aye, love."

"That's all I was trying to do today but no matter what I do, I just keep seeing this empty room. My mom thinks I might be able to talk to Elsa if she were in the room. I've been monitoring it since my parents left for the picnic but Elsa hasn't come in. No one has."

She sounded so utterly dejected that Killian winced. "Swan, Elsa is a queen who is more than likely in the midst of reclaiming her kingdom. I imagine that she has more important things to do than sitting in her bedchamber."

"Yeah," Emma said, heaving a sigh. She finally let the image of the bedchamber go, and her shoulders slumped slightly with the release. The amount of concentration and energy required to hold it had clearly become too much for her. "How am I going to know when she's in the room, though? I can't sit here all day and wait for her to come back."

Before Killian could even attempt to give her a response, light dawned. She turned to face him, a hopeful smile on her lips and a little spark of excitement returning to her features. "You're a genius!"

He was? He hadn't said anything remotely genius-like, he didn't think. Still, he knew how to take a compliment. "Of course I am, Swan, but why in particular?"

"Just answer this first. My dad knew Kristoff and Anna met up with Rumplestiltskin, so that means Arendelle is in the same realm as the Enchanted Forest, right?"

Though Killian didn't understand where this line of questioning was headed, he answered her. "Aye, love. We'd sailed through Arendelle's waters a few times during my days in the Royal Navy."

Emma grinned, the exhilaration returning full force. "So, okay. Henry was here and Aurora was in the Enchanted Forest, right? But they were still able to talk to each other in the burning room because they were asleep at the same time."

It took him a moment to follow what Henry and Aurora had to do with Kristoff and the prince and Anna but he eventually figured out her point. "Which means time syncs between the realms," he breathed in realization.

"Not exactly," she allowed. "Henry was asleep because it was the middle of the night in Storybrooke but Aurora saw him while we were climbing the beanstalk."

"Which we began climbing in the early morning," Killian reminded her.

It seemed, however, that Emma Swan didn't need reminding. "Exactly! So it's like they were in two different time zones."

That was a concept with which Killian was not at all familiar. "Time zones?"

Emma sighed, giving a slight roll of her eyes. Apparently a "time zone" was a convention of the Land Without Magic. "Never mind. The point is, if nighttime in Storybrooke is morning in the Enchanted Forest, that means the Enchanted Forest is probably a few hours ahead of us, give or take. Which also means Arendelle is probably a few hours ahead of us, give or take. So, to tie this all together, if I wait until the early afternoon to try to talk to Elsa–"

Now Killian fully understood. "It will probably be early evening in Arendelle and you have a chance of catching her in her bedchamber before she goes to sleep." Emma nodded, smiling. He grinned back at his Swan. "Bloody brilliant, love."

Apparently satisfied now that she had a plan of attack, Emma took Killian's hand and pulled him to his feet. She led him out to the living room sofa, where they both eased down and snuggled up with each other. Killian's breath still caught in his throat every time they did this, every time she tucked herself into his side, every time she rested her hand on his chest or her head on his shoulder.

Normally Emma had the Netflix ready and waiting for them but today she actually had to set it up. Clearly her magical experiment with the mirror had distracted her. Not that Killian minded in the slightest; he enjoyed seeing that smile on her face, that excitement in her eyes. He enjoyed seeing her happy.

He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Emma missed Elsa. She'd lamented more than once in the last week that she didn't even know if her new friends had made it home in one piece. If her magic could set her mind at ease as well as open the lines of communication between her and Elsa, Killian was certainly willing to give her whatever assistance she needed.

After a long moment of flicking through various titles, none of which were at all familiar to Killian, Emma finally settled on a story called _My Cousin Vinny_. "It's funny," she shrugged, looking up at him questioningly. "I'm in the mood for funny today."

He smiled at her; she'd yet to figure out that he did not at all care what she put on the Netflix. Spending time with her was more important than the story they watched. "Funny is fine with me."

It was also partly his hope that they wouldn't end up paying much attention to the story. After all, they very rarely did.

Emma smiled back and hit the button on the magic wand to start the Netflix. The two of them settled down to watch, Killian stretching his legs out onto the coffee table and Emma resting her head on his shoulder.

His hope was answered a few minutes later when Emma turned against him and leaned in for a long, deep kiss. Killian's heart quickened at the contact, the sound echoing in his ears, but he soon got lost in her. He cupped her face, caressing her cheek with the side of his thumb, and just savored the moment.

"What was that for?" he asked breathlessly when she broke the kiss, resting her forehead against his.

"My mother told me not to do anything she wouldn't do," she replied with a coy grin.

Though he didn't understand what one had to do with the other, he said, "Ah."

However, Emma didn't stop there. She sat up a little bit, looking at him with playful and somewhat starry eyes. "Did I ever tell you about the time Henry and I came home from the store with the stuff to make tacos?"

Still not entirely sure how any of it tied together but unable to ignore the passion building within him, Killian said, "I don't believe so, love."

Emma smiled at him. "Remind me to tell you one day. For right now, let's just say my parents owe me." Then she leaned in for another kiss, deep and long and exploring. It was as if everything around them melted away, as if they were the only two in the world. He could feel her fingers bunching in his hair as his own hand once again reached up to caress her cheek. All that mattered was each other. The kiss and touch and each other.

"Remind me to thank your parents for putting themselves in your debt," he said when they both came up for air. Emma grinned.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** To Guest who reviewed the last chapter: I couldn't tease that kind of amusing embarrassment and not follow through. ;) Hope you all like!

* * *

A picnic lunch was apparently just what the doctor ordered. Snow had to admit, the afternoon had been as close to perfect as it could get. In fact, the only thing that would have made it better was if it had included her entire family. Spending the time with Charming and Neal was wonderful, of course, but there were moments here and there where Snow had been keenly aware of her missing family members.

Still, the couple of hours together had been relaxing and calming. So relaxing and calming, in fact, that little Neal had fallen into a post-picnic coma mere seconds after being buckled into his car seat for the trip back home. Now Snow and Charming were climbing the stairs to their apartment, the cooler hooked over his arm and the car seat hooked over hers, both trying to make as little noise as possible lest they wake their tiny sleeping prince.

At the top of the stairs, Charming ducked around Snow so he could open the door for her and their little son. "Thank you," she murmured, immensely grateful that she wouldn't have to jostle the car seat to open the door herself.

As she stepped into the apartment, she discovered that she and Charming really should have made at least a little bit of noise, the potential for waking the baby be damned.

For there on the couch sat her daughter and a (former) pirate in the middle of the make-out session to end all make-out sessions.

Oh, this was not a scene _anyone_ should be walking in on, let alone Emma's own parents. Snow's cheeks burned in embarrassment as she whirled around and tried to shove Charming back out into the hallway. The best thing to do was go back out, give themselves a minute, and make more noise on their way back in to alert Emma and Hook to their presence.

It was an absolutely wonderful plan but it was also too little, too late.

Charming had already spotted the couple and now seemed to be rooted in place. Then he blinked and averted his gaze, a rather amusing combination of embarrassment and annoyance clouding his features. Before Snow could gesture to Charming to, for the love of all things good in the universe, get back out into the hallway, Charming cleared his throat.

Though not quite how Snow would have done it, Charming's action worked. Emma and Hook jumped apart and turned in unison towards the sound.

Snow had to admit, both of their reactions were comical. As soon as she saw her parents standing in the doorway, Emma scrambled to face forward, her cheeks turning bright red. Hook winced, dropped his head, and murmured, "Bloody hell."

"Sorry," Snow said, mostly to break the embarrassed tension in the room. She stepped fully inside and set the car seat down on the kitchen table, thankful to take the weight off her arm. "Neal's asleep so we were quiet coming up the stairs."

"I-it's okay," Emma stammered as she pushed herself to her feet, her eyes darting between her mother and her father, who was himself looking pretty much everywhere except the sofa. The poor girl must have felt like a teenager who'd just gotten caught sneaking around with her boyfriend.

Charming's demeanor, quite frankly, wasn't helping matters on that front at all.

Regardless of (or perhaps despite) her father's uneasiness, Emma reached behind herself for Hook's hand. He obliged, slipping his hand into hers before standing as well. "I, um, think I figured something out in my talking to Elsa thing," Emma continued as the pair stepped towards the kitchen.

It was a blatant attempt at changing the subject. Thankfully, Charming seemed just as eager as everyone else to move past the scene he'd inadvertently walked in on, because he finally looked at Emma and asked, "What did you figure out?"

And just like that, the tension in the room eased. A relieved smile tugged at Emma's lips as she launched into her theory about how time in the Enchanted Forest didn't exactly line up with time in Storybrooke. "I'm thinking that if I try in the early ..." She trailed off as she glanced up at the clock, then winced. "Shit. I should probably try now."

Hook sent her an apologetic glance and she smiled back at him in acceptance. Snow hid a smile of her own; clearly the two of them hadn't planned on getting so wrapped up in each other.

Not that Snow had any intention of calling attention to that little shared look of theirs. She just gave her daughter a proud smile and asked, "Do you need us to do anything?"

This time Emma was the one to glance over at Hook and he was the one to give her a little nod of encouragement. Then she looked back at Snow and Charming, the uncertainty in her eyes making Snow's breath catch in her throat. "Would you guys come into the room with us?"

Snow's heart, which had been sinking at her baby's uncertainty, now leaped for joy as she exchanged a touched glance with her husband. Their baby girl wanted them in the room with her! Their baby girl wanted their support while she attempted to perform this magic.

"Of course, kiddo," Charming agreed softly, just as touched as Snow was.

"Let us just get your brother down and we'll be right in," Snow added.

Emma smiled in both gratitude and relief. Then she wordlessly tugged Hook towards the downstairs bedroom to wait for her parents.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Charming turned to Snow and glared at her teasingly. "A little warning would have been nice, you know."

"I only saw them about half a second before you did," she replied as she unbuckled her baby boy from his car seat. "I was trying to shove you back out the door but it was too late. On the other hand, you couldn't have thought of something else to do other than clearing your throat?"

"My daughter was … _making out_ with a pirate," Charming hissed, practically shuddering as if it pained him to even speak those words. "They're lucky clearing my throat was all I did."

Snow gave an indulgent shake of her head as she set baby Neal in the bassinet. A peek down at him proved the move hadn't woken him; he was still deeply asleep, his little mouth half-open and his tiny arms resting on either side of his head. Snow pressed a kiss to her fingertips, which she then touched to her baby boy's head before smiling teasingly at her husband. "It could have been worse, you know. She could have given us the same kind of _surprise_ we inadvertently gave her when she and Henry came back from the grocery store with the ingredients for the tacos."

Charming's face went red as he set his lips in a thin line. "You're right. That would have been much, much worse."

Snow chuckled. His overprotective-father attitude was endearing. Perhaps not from Emma's perspective, of course, but at least from Snow's own. She had no doubt in her mind that Charming would have met any and all of Emma's suitors at the point of a sword if she'd grown up with them. At least the two of them were able to reclaim a little bit of that father/daughter interaction now, inappropriate though it may be.

With a loving smile, Snow took her husband's hand. In a mirror of her daughter's actions just moments ago, she led Charming into the downstairs bedroom.

Hook and Emma had already taken their places on the edge of the bed, facing the mirror. Much to Snow's immense amusement, Hook inched away from Emma the second he spotted her and Charming making their way into the room.

Emma, on the other hand, looked a little nervous, not because of her proximity to Hook but because of the upcoming test of her hypothesis. Snow smiled to set them both at ease before asking Emma, "Do you need us to do anything special?"

"No," Emma replied, shaking her head to emphasize her point. "Just stay here with me?"

"You got it," Charming told her.

She waited until they'd both taken seats on the bed behind her. Then she faced forward, took a deep breath, set her shoulders, and closed her eyes.

Snow watched in the mirror as Emma concentrated on her magic, her brow furrowing from the effort. The furrowed brow and scrunched nose soon gave way to serenity as Emma relaxed under the rush of her magic.

A flicker of movement in the mirror caught Snow's attention. She watched in awe as soft ripples made their way across the glass with a bright white light chasing them to the mirror's edges. When the light cleared, the bedchamber Snow had seen in the mirror earlier appeared.

"Wow," Charming whispered. Snow grasped his hand to keep him quiet, not wanting him to break Emma's concentration.

The mirror magic was of course impressive but there was one problem: the bedchamber was still empty.

Snow's heart sank for her poor baby when Emma's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "Maybe I was wrong," she mumbled. "Or maybe I was right and they haven't made it back home yet. Maybe something did happen to them. Or maybe this isn't even Elsa's castle!"

The image began to flicker as Emma became more upset. Hook reached for her hand to try to calm her. Snow was on the point of offering some words of encouragement herself when she noticed an odd change in the room.

The ambient light brightened for a moment and then darkened, as if … as if someone had opened and closed a door. "No, Emma, wait," Snow breathed.

The urgency in Snow's voice must have made Emma shore up her concentration again because the image steadied. For a beat, everyone in the bedroom held their breath.

And then Elsa in all her regal glory stepped into frame, as it were.

It took everything Snow had in her not to whoop with joy. She didn't want to make any sudden sounds lest she break Emma's concentration.

Emma's voice was shaky with both emotion and anticipation as she asked, "Elsa?"

The queen of Arendelle froze, glancing from side to side as if trying to determine where the disembodied voice had come from. "Emma?" she whispered, confused.

Snow exchanged an excited grin with Charming. Elsa had definitely heard her!

Strengthened by her success, Emma sat up a little straighter as she said, "Look at the mirror, Elsa."

Elsa turned towards the mirror in her room and looked directly at them. Her eyes widened in astonishment. "Emma? Is that really you?"

"It's really me," Emma said proudly. Snow could also detect a little excited grin in her voice.

"Oh my goodness!" Elsa exclaimed excitedly. She was grinning widely as she sat down in a seat that was just out of their view. Snow guessed they were looking at her through the mirror on a vanity. "I can see you! I can see all of you! Oh, I'm so glad you're all right!"

"Oh, Elsa, it's so good to see you," Emma breathed. She sounded relieved and ecstatic at the same time. "I'm glad _you're_ all right. I couldn't help but wonder if we'd sent you back into a war zone."

"There will be plenty of time for _that_ story later," Elsa promised her. "Wait, will there be? How are you doing this?"

Emma turned to grin at her parents and then at Hook before returning her attention to her best friend in the mirror. "We'll have all the time we want. Let's just say our magic lessons paid off in more ways than one."

Elsa smiled at her. "This is amazing. I'm so glad to see you. To _talk_ to you!"

"I am, too," Emma murmured, the emotion in her voice causing Snow to rest a gentle and proud hand on her shoulder.

Her baby girl had opened the lines of communication _across realms._ And now because of her baby girl's persistence, the goodbye Emma and Elsa had shared was no longer a goodbye forever.

"What have you been up to this past week?" Elsa asked.

A sardonic smirk tugged at Emma's lips. "How much time do you have? I have a funny feeling catching each other up on our weeks is going to take a _while_."

Elsa chuckled. "Why does that not surprise me?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** And we've come to another end. I just couldn't let the goodbye between Elsa and Emma be permanent, so I was glad to give them this little outlet. Thanks for once again being the best readers ever! You guys are awesome.

* * *

For a little while, the bedroom buzzed with excited voices. Anna had knocked on Elsa's door to ask her opinion on something wedding-related but as soon as she saw everyone in the mirror, whatever question she'd wanted to ask was quickly forgotten. "Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed, crouching down beside Elsa in front of the mirror, much to everyone's amusement. "I'm so glad you're all okay! Well, I mean, of course you're _okay_ but we did kind of leave things kind of up in the air with Mr. Gold knowing me and what that all meant and … you know what I mean."

Emma hid a smirk. She did indeed know what she meant. "We're all fine. So you and Kristoff are finally getting married?"

"In two days! We know it's kind of fast but really, it's been, what, three decades in coming? And most of the stuff we needed was still here anyway, like the decorations and everything. It was just the food that needed to be remade."

David chuckled. "Only in circumstances like these could weddings be delayed thirty years and then carry on again with just the tiniest of hitches."

Emma could practically feel her mother's wistful eyes on her. Sometimes the circumstances did indeed fall as David said. As they well knew, however, sometimes circumstances didn't allow for people to just pick back up three decades after they left off.

A distant-sounding Kristoff called for Anna, who then begged off apologetically. "I have to go but we'll talk later. Wait, we will be able to talk later, right? This isn't just some kind of single-use-only magic, is it?"

"We'll all be able to talk later," Elsa assured her sister before smiling at Emma. "There is no way the two of us would let this be some kind of single-use-only magic."

Emma smiled back. No, they most certainly would not.

Anna's exuberant goodbye-for-now must have spurred everyone else Snow and Charming's room to take their leaves as well. Snow rested a gentle hand on Emma's shoulder, her eyes sparkling with pride and happiness for her daughter. "We'll let you two catch up, all right?"

"Thanks, Mom," Emma murmured, touched by her parents' support of both her attempt at the magic and her friendship with Elsa.

Then her parents both stood up from the bed, David resting his hand on Emma's back as he did so. As they said their goodbyes to Elsa, Killian reached over to take Emma's hand. "I'll step out, too, love."

Her amazing, thoughtful pirate. He didn't at all want to spend the next few awkward minutes alone with her parents but he wanted to give her the time with Elsa. "Don't worry," Emma replied, entwining her fingers with his while giving him a smile that was equal parts encouraging and sardonic. "Dad may be annoyed about earlier but he won't say anything. He won't want to dwell on that little accidental surprise."

She should know; she most certainly didn't want to dwell on the little accidental surprise her parents had given her the day after she and Snow returned from the Enchanted Forest.

Killian smiled at her. "Aye, love. We'll be right outside."

"Thank you," she said, grateful for both his courtesy and his support.

"You're welcome." Then, he, too, bid Elsa goodbye and left the room.

As soon as they were alone, Elsa shot her best friend a coy grin. "You and Hook looked quite cozy, there, you know."

Emma felt her cheeks burning. "We're doing all right."

"'All right?' Emma, you're _glowing_."

"I do not glow," Emma said into the mirror.

"I beg to differ."

Despite her embarrassment, a smile curled onto Emma's lips. God, she'd missed her best friend. "I believe someone owes me a story about this Hans guy and his throne-stealing ways."

"I believe _someone_ is simply trying to change the subject," Elsa chuckled, causing Emma's cheeks to burn a bit darker. With a sly smile of her own as the cap on her teasing, Elsa launched into the story of how her family came to know Hans.

By the time Elsa got to the part about him leaving Anna to die, Emma wanted to punch the jerk in the face. "What an _asshole_."

Elsa smiled, amused by her friend's colorful language. "Indeed. So as you can probably tell, my becoming trapped in an urn sometime later was quite fortuitous for him and his brothers. They just came in and took over the castle while promising to spin some story of how I'd frozen Arendelle again and how Anna had attacked me."

Oh, if Emma ever met this Hans guy, she'd have a few things to say to him. Actually she might just skip words altogether and go right for decking him. A couple of times. "So how did you end up kicking him the hell out of your kingdom?"

Again, Elsa smiled. "It was fortunate that our castle guards had been through so much upheaval recently. Between Ingrid and Hans both insinuating themselves into our lives, the guards had no idea which end was up and no time, really, to form deep loyalties to either one of them. When we came back from Storybrooke, they were more than happy to help us get Hans and his brothers out."

"A certain someone's magical powers also helped, I'm assuming," Emma added when Elsa paused to take a breath.

"Yes, indeed," the queen replied, a proud smile playing on her lips. "I didn't have to do much more than threaten most of Hans' brothers. Hans himself took a little more convincing, which was where the guards came in handy. And Anna. Turns out she has a pretty good right hook."

Emma snickered. "Attagirl, Anna."

Elsa grinned. "It was probably the quickest, quietest coup in Arendelle history."

"I'm glad," Emma smiled. As unprepared and at sea as Elsa felt at times, Emma knew she loved her kingdom and loved her citizens. Being queen may be overwhelming sometimes – most of the time – but it had its good and wonderful points, too.

Emma knew better than most; she felt the same as the savior.

"How has your week been?" Elsa asked, making Emma realize the silence between them had spun out.

Telling Elsa about what she'd missed would mean telling her about … about Killian and his heart and Gold, and she didn't think she could do it. She didn't think she could even verbalize it because verbalizing it would make it real. "Nowhere near as eventful as yours," Emma said with a shrug, which was sort of the truth. Her week itself had been fine, aside from the decompressing she and Killian were still doing; it was just the day Elsa left that had sucked out loud.

But there was no hiding something from her best friend. The expression on Elsa's face shifted into one of concern. "No, Emma. What happened?"

Emma shook her head, a token attempt at staving off this particular conversation. One look at Elsa's concerned and sympathetic face, though, and it all came rushing out. How those previous weird moments between Emma and Killian suddenly made sense with the discovery that Gold had taken Killian's heart. The mad dash from the house in the woods to find Gold and Killian in the clock tower. Being frozen in place, unable to do anything – magical or otherwise – but watch as the imp attempted to crush Killian's heart right in front of her. And had Belle not arrived when she did, he would have succeeded in that attempt.

"Oh, Emma, I'm so sorry," Elsa said, her voice full of sympathy. It was clear that she wished she could reach through the glass and give her best friend a hug.

Frankly, Emma wished she could, too.

Emma sniffled, swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat while she was talking. "But after that night, things have been really quiet here. I'm kind of afraid to say it but things have been … _peaceful_." As peaceful as things got in Storybrooke, at any rate.

Elsa gave her a small smile. "You certainly deserve the break."

Emma shrugged, fighting a sudden wave of exhaustion. She'd been holding the magic allowing them to talk longer than she'd ever needed to sustain her magic before. The emotion raised while discussing Killian's recent bout of heartlessness had utterly depleted her energy reserve.

"Emma?" came Elsa's simultaneously confused and concerned voice.

"Yeah?"

"You're starting to flicker in and out in the mirror."

Emma looked her friend in the eye. "I'm getting tired."

It was all she had to say; Elsa understood in an instant. She shifted almost imperceptibly in the chair, squaring her shoulders in preparation. "If you can tell me what you're doing, I'll try to take over so you can rest."

It was getting harder to concentrate, even on something as simple as magic instructions. "I'm just … I focused on who I wanted to talk to, who I wanted to see."

Elsa nodded. "All right, you can release the magic for a little bit and I'll see if I can make it work on my end. Give me a few minutes."

"Okay," Emma agreed, glancing at her mom's bedside clock. She'd give Elsa ten minutes. If she hadn't heard back from her in ten minutes, she'd do the mirror magic again herself.

When Emma let the magic go, her entire body slumped under the release. Good God, she was _exhausted_. Her parents' pillows, propped up against the headboard, looked extremely inviting but she put the thought right out of her head. Lying down now would lead to her passing out for a good couple of hours, which she didn't have time for at the moment.

The relative silence in the room must have caught the attention of the people outside of it and David must have been sent to investigate because a few moments later, her father knocked softly on the doorjamb. "Is everything all right?" he asked, concern knotting his brow.

"Yeah," Emma wearily assured him. "I was just at my magical limit. Elsa's trying it now."

After a brief hesitation, he stepped fully into the room and sat down beside Emma on the edge of the bed. He glanced from the mirror to her, waiting until she made eye contact to speak. "I'm really proud of you, Emma."

The words sent a warmth through Emma's veins, a warmth different than the one her magic sent through her: more wonderful, more touching. Her heart was soaring with it and it created within her a joy and sense of pride in herself the likes of which she'd never felt before.

God, she was twenty-nine years old and just like a little kid, she apparently loved making her parents proud.

"It's just a little magic," she said, shrugging self-deprecatingly.

"It's not _just_ anything," David insisted. She detected a vague sadness in his eyes at the notion that she couldn't – or wouldn't – see her accomplishments the way he did. "From what I gather, simply seeing across realms isn't easy, never mind being able to communicate across realms. Because of the specialness you two share, you and Elsa now have your own little pipeline to each other. I'm so happy for the both of you."

Emma smiled, her throat beginning to constrict with emotion as her dad articulated his pride for her. "Yeah, well, I never would have thought to try if you hadn't put the bug in my ear." She looked David in the eye. "Thank you."

He smiled in return. "You're welcome, kiddo." Then he patted her knee, stood, and once again slipped from the room to leave her and Elsa in peace.

Speaking of Elsa, she hadn't managed to make the mirror magic work yet. Emma glanced at the clock; it had only been five minutes. She heaved a sigh and leaned back on her palms to wait.

She waited a very long, tense four more minutes. With one minute left to go, a flicker of movement in the mirror captured Emma's attention. She sat up straight, watching as the mirror appeared to frost over. Just as quickly as the frost had come, it was gone, leaving Elsa in its place.

Holy _shit_ , that was awesome.

"Emma?" Elsa asked. "Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Emma grinned.

Elsa grinned excitedly as well. "Oh, this is amazing! We both can do it now. We really can talk whenever we want!"

"Damn straight we can." Nothing – not even separate realms – could keep two magical best friends apart for very long. It just took a hope, a little trying, a lot of determination, and just a touch of magic.


End file.
